Gran Hamada
| birth_place = Maebashi, Gunma, Japan | death_date = | death_place = | resides = | billed = | trainer = | debut = 1971 | retired = }} Hiroaki Hamada (November 27, 1950) better known by his ring name Gran Hamada, is a Japanese professional wrestler, the first to adopt the high-flying Mexican lucha libre style. He has wrestled for New Japan Pro Wrestling, the Universal Wrestling Federation, Michinoku Pro Wrestling, and All Japan Pro Wrestling, and was the founder of Universal Lucha Libre. He has also had stints with the World Wrestling Federation and Extreme Championship Wrestling in the United States. His daughters Xóchitl Hamada and Ayako Hamada are professional wrestlers. Career He was one of the first dojo trainees at New Japan Pro Wrestling, being known as Little Hamada in the beginning. Sent to Mexico's Universal Wrestling Association because of his lack of size, he found a lot of success there - so much that Mexican fans and promoters began calling him Gran Hamada (Great Hamada) and the name stuck. He also competed in Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre, which added El (The) to the front of his name: El Gran Hamada. In 1984 he became a member of the initial roster of the original Japanese UWF, but found that his flamboyantly acrobatic style clashed with the martial arts-inspired style and focus on realism of the UWF, and soon left for All Japan Pro Wrestling. He eventually broke off from AJPW to form his own promotion in 1990: Universal Lucha Libre. However, wrestlers began to leave the ULL in 1993, and in 1995 Hamada closed the promotion to join Michinoku Pro, which had been formed by former ULL wrestlers. In 2001 he began competing for All Japan again, this time as a free agent. He briefly was part of the "Love Machines" stable under a mask as "Mini Love Machine" with "Super Love Machine" (Junji Hirata of New Japan, reprising his old role as "Super Strong Machine") and "Love Machine Storm" (Arashi, whose stage name literally means "storm"). They used Morning Musume's hit song "Love Machine" as their entrance theme. His daughters Xochitl and Ayako, who are half-Mexican, are also professional wrestlers. He has apparently resurfaced in New Japan under the WRESTLE LAND brand at their second show on June 30, disguised as Masked Hurricane and teaming with Ray Cobra against Tiger Mask IV and Edo Samurai in a losing effort (Ray Cobra was pinned after a Tombstone Piledriver from Tiger Mask IV). External links * Profile * Profile * Profile Category:Japanese wrestlers Category:1950 births Category:1972 debuts Category:All Japan Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Apache Pro-Wrestling alumni Category:ARSION alumni Category:Asistencia Asesoría y Administración alumni Category:Big Japan Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre alumni Category:Dradition Pro-Wrestling current roster Category:Dragondoor Project alumni Category:Dramatic Dream Team alumni Category:Extreme Championship Wrestling alumni Category:Fighting Investigation Team Battlarts alumni Category:Fighting Of World Japan alumni Category:Fuerza Imperial alumni Category:Fukumen MANIA alumni Category:Full Contact Wrestling alumni Category:Ice Ribbon alumni Category:Inoki Genome Federation alumni Category:Kaientai Dojo alumni Category:Legend The Pro-Wrestling alumni Category:Michinoku Pro Wrestling alumni Category:NWA Hollywood Wrestling alumni Category:Okinawa Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Osaka Pro Wrestling alumni Category:OZ Academy alumni Category:Pro Wrestling ZERO1 alumni Category:Real Japan Pro Wrestling current roster Category:Toryumon Japan alumni Category:Union of Wrestling Forces International alumni Category:Universal Wrestling Association alumni Category:Universal Wrestling Federation alumni Category:World Entertainment Wrestling alumni Category:World Wrestling Entertainment alumni Category:World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana alumni Category:Wrestling Marvelous Future alumni Category:REINA X World alumni Category:Hamada family Category:Living people Category:Dotonbori Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Mobius alumni Category:Onita Pro alumni Category:Male wrestlers Category:New Japan Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Wrestling New Classic alumni